Four people were killed and many others were injured when a car rammed into passers-by in Handan, Hebei province, on Sunday. The accused has been detained on the suspicion of "endangering public safety in a dangerous manner "for driving after taking too many prescription pain-killing drugs, the local public security bureau said.

That the police charged the accused with "endangering public security…" shows the serious nature of the case. In recent years, drug-impaired driving has been blamed for many traffic accidents. However, while drug driving is not very different from drunken driving, the punishment for it is usually minor. In fact, unless there are serious casualties, drug driving is not even treated as a crime.

China's Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates that anyone drinking alcohol, taking psychotropic or narcotic drugs under State control, suffering from a disease that hinders safe driving, or being too tired to drive safely, should not drive a motor vehicle. As seen here, the reference to drugs in the regulation is limited to psychotropic or narcotic drugs.

In judicial practice, drug driving is treated no different from any other traffic accident. Therefore, there are no measures to deter anyone from indulging in it.

There have been increasing calls for more severe punishment for drug driving, but even detecting a case of drug driving is difficult, as many kinds of drugs are involved. With the emergence of various new analgesic drugs, detection will become even more difficult.

However, just because drug driving is difficult to detect, it should not continue to threaten public safety. Instead of just making punishment severe for those responsible for an accident linked to drug driving, there is a need to plug it before it causes harm. For example, the legislation needs to be improved to expand the scope of drugs restricted while driving and penalties increased for drug driving. Doctors should also tell patients to be aware of any possible side effects when taking medicines.